Burgess or Graham, who's the best Brit? - NRL Daily

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With Sam Burgess's Rabbitohs taking on James Graham's Bulldogs, Saturday's blockbuster sudden death finals game pits two of the best British forwards in rugby league against each other.

In tonight's edition of NRL Daily, our panel debates the question of who is the best of the modern British imports.

"Dead heat, I think they both offer their sides different skill sets," says John Gibbs.

"Burgess offers leadership, plenty of go forward; whereas James Graham is more of a skilful player that helps his other forwards. Burgess is more likely to run off Issac Luke whereas Graham will set something up for an outside player. Together they would complement each other perfectly."

Brent Read says both Graham and Burgess have some way to go to top the NRL's best recent import.

"I would go with Gareth Ellis, although I think by the end of their careers, both Graham and Burgess will have gone past him," Read says. "I suspect Graham may eventually finish up marginally in front of Burgess."

And stats guru David Middleton says two aggressive big men of years gone by have set the benchmark.

"It depends on the definition of 'modern game'," Middleton says. "If the modern game started with limited tackle football then Malcolm Reilly is my choice as the best British import. He had so many qualities – toughness and aggression, outstanding ball skills and an intense competitiveness.

"More recently, I was a big fan of Adrian Morley. He was an intimidator who played on the edge and wore a lot of suspensions as a result but he put fear into the opposition and in his prime he was a huge asset to his team."

Also on tonight's show, the guys debate whether Des Hasler's plan of embracing the NFL's policy of on-field referees checking video replays themselves, and discuss who benefits most from the rumoured exit of Beau Ryan and Chris Hieghington from the Tigers to the Sharks.

Get all this and more in tonight's episode of NRL Daily, the only NRL show that's on every night of the week.

Stream it on the NRL.com homepage from 7:00pm tonight, watch it on the official NRL mobile site (Telstra customers only. Action Pack required. Click here for more details) or Telstra T-BOX. You can also watch the best NRL Daily videos on your iPhone with the official NRL iPhone App (Official Pass required. Click here for more details)